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Photograph by Paul Myers
Fire Capt. Dennis DeMelloPine may be a good guy to have around in an emergency, but he's also a good cook to have around when the firefighters get a little hungry.
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Where there's smoke, there's fire, or maybe it's a good meal
By Suzanne Cristallo
That fire truck in the Safeway parking lot doesn't necessarily mean there's an emergency. More likely, the crew is in the produce section fingering tomatoes. Shopping for dinner is a necessary duty in the life of a firefighter, who spends 24 hours every other day living at the station. Much of the time, the flames are under the sautéing garlic.
"We had 25 people for lunch today," notes Dennis DeMelloPine, captain at the Santa Clara County Fire Department's University Avenue Station in Los Gatos. DeMelloPine is famous for his culinary improvisations among the 16 stations and 40 crews that make up the department. His reputation for good cooking, garnered over nearly 30 years of service, is what brought an entourage of escorts and two visiting New York firemen to lunch at his station last week after just an hour's notice.
DeMelloPine was up to it. The bunch was treated to grilled chicken breasts with American cheese and chili peppers. The salad, whipped together by Theresa Meisenbach--a firefighter of 20 years and a DeMelloPine disciple--was a mix of greens tossed with beaten pecans and dried cranberries, sprinkled with goat cheese and mandarin oranges and topped with fat-free mango dressing. The "fat-free" part surprised visiting Dave Harrison, retired battalion chief.
DeMelloPine, who's facing retirement in two months, admits they've had a lot of fun with cholesterol in the past, spending full days making their own sausages while sitting around the big kitchen table with 300 pounds of meat and spices.
His 12-pound meatloaf now is made with turkey instead of beef. He mixes it with eggs and breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and chopped chilies, but the onions are still sautéed in butter. The clincher is the pork tenderloin ("fewer calories than chicken breast!") which he lays over the turkey mixture. The result is a layer of turkey mix, a layer of tenderloin and a layer of sautéed peppers of varying colors, then more meat.
"I sprinkle it with cilantro and pack it thoroughly," DeMelloPine says, a hint of delight warming his eyes, "then, after it's baked, when you cut into it, it looks like a sushi roll."
"It's great for breakfast," Meisenbach adds.
DeMelloPine grew up in San Jose, part of an extended family whose Portuguese traditions revolved around food. He says his crew--seven members on duty together--has its own personality, like every other crew in the station. "One crew is big on breakfast. They're religious about starting the day with oatmeal," he relates. Another likes the food all laid out. "They go to Costco and buy it already assembled."
His crew uses the democratic process. Lunch and dinner are based on what the group wants, then they shop for the ingredients, sandwiching in a heavy training schedule, truck and station maintenance emergency calls. Sometimes the calls come at difficult moments.
"We get all enthusiastic about a meal we've been working on, and the bell rings," says Meisenbach. "That means we leave the station in the hands of a substitute crew, and they get to eat it."
But eating still gets done, because long hours on a call where food might not come for a long time means "you need to eat up," says Bruce Ingle, a 24-year firefighter paramedic.
Probably the meal that has brought DeMelloPine the most fame is his "Glorioso." Based on a dish served at Bosco's restaurant in Calistoga, he experimented with various ingredients until he came up with something better, he feels. There's no particular formula, just: "lots of sautéed mushrooms, garlic, green onions and crushed red peppers, served over shell pasta with grated Parmesan and Romano cheese. Then, throw in some sausage, shrimp or chicken," he explains.
"Garlic is the staple here," Meisenbach observes. "We keep Altoids in the truck."
Capt. Dennis DeMelloPine can be contacted at dennisdemellopine@cnt.co.santa-clara.ca.us.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
